Metropolitan Grapevine Mortgage Investment Program A "Ponzi Scheme" Says Court; Placed Into Receivership

The Maryland Attorney General issued a press release yesterday announcing the placement of Metropolitan Grapevine, Andrew H. Williams, Jr., and POS DH, LLC into receivership. An excerpt from the press release:

• Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that POS DH, LLC, Metropolitan Grapevine, LLC, and Andrew H. Williams, Jr., have been placed in receivership, effective Monday, October 29, 2007. After hearing three days of testimony detailing the business activities of the Defendants, the Honorable Thomas P. Smith, Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, issued an order placing the companies into receivership and freezing their assets as well as those of an additional 18 entities that were shown to be affiliated with the Defendants’ business operations.

• The court determined that over 1,000 people invested approximately $50,000,000 in promissory note and investment contract securities offered and sold by the Defendants, investments that are essentially without value. The court also determined that the Defendants’ businesses generated no significant income and that they are insolvent with liabilities of $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 and current assets of approximately $2,000,000. The court concluded that the Defendants were paying previous investors with funds received from new investors, and that the investment program was, in fact, a Ponzi scheme.

• “This court order now places the financial control of POS DH, LLC, Metropolitan Grapevine, LLC, and Williams, in the hands of the court-appointed receiver,” said Attorney General Gansler. “The receiver will now take all of the assets of the Defendants traceable to this investment scam and create a pool of money to be refunded to the investors and other creditors.”

[...]

• The companies used a variety of business names, including POS Dream Homes, Metro Dream Homes, POS Café, Metro Grapevine, and other names as part of the overall scheme.

For more, see the Maryland AG Press Release - Court Places Laurel-Bsaed Mortgage Payment / Investment Program Into Receivership (Ponzi Scheme Accused of Securities Violations and Investment Fraud).

Go here for other posts & links to other stories on Metropolitan Grapevine / POS Metro Dream Homes.